The goals of CI-SEEDS are to: 1) establish an exemplar workforce development program for training researchers that are prepared to solve today's interdisciplinary science problems, and that will increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rate of domestic students in doctoral programs relevant to a cyberinfrastructure-enabled society; 2) build a common vision that leverages the established cyberinfrastructure at Clemson to enable transformative research in areas of University emphasis; and 3) lead a set of activities with the broad academic community for curriculum planning that will support interdisciplinary computational and data-enabled science.
The Intellectual Merit of this project is in developing a model workforce development program with a unifying research thrust, guided by the science of cyberinfrastructure, and motivated by strong NSF-funded research in data-enabled science and data. The project funds a summer "Cyberinfrastructure Bootcamp" for beginning graduate students which is coordinated with an REU program as a single program through CI-SEEDS. CI-SEEDS provides a framework to fund and further support beginning graduate students in their first two years of graduate study, with the goal of significantly increasing the probability of successful completion of a Ph.D. degree. CI-SEEDS catalyzes planning activities for new academic programs in collaborative computing research.
The Broader Impacts of this project are very significant. CI-SEEDS builds upon an established recruiting program at Clemson that is reaching far more females and underrepresented student groups than the national average. The project creates a path for graduate study for undergraduate students, and provides a foundation for new Ph.D. students in collaborative computing. The project leverages the Computer Science Division's longstanding relationship with the Clemson Computing and Information Technology division, the state-funded CyberInstitute, and the world-class supercomputing facilities, education, and training at Clemson. The project also leverages existing awards for student travel to SC, and the SC/TN EPSCoR Track-2 award with established connections to undergraduate-serving and minority institutions throughout South Carolina and the region. CI-SEEDS serves as a model program to increase the recruitment and graduation rate of domestic doctoral students in interdisciplinary computing research areas.
